Roswell Park research: E-cigarettes produce toxic vapor

High-voltage e-cigarettes may be far more dangerous than previously believed, according to new research led by staff at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

According to the study, e-cigarettes may expose users to increased levels of toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde and acetaldehyde — the same types of toxins found in traditional cigarettes. The study was published online Friday by Nicotine and Tobacco Research, a peer-reviewed journal.

It’s the next in a series of studies out of Roswell Park led by Maciej Goniewicz, an assistant professor of oncology at Roswell’s Department of Health Behavior.

The battery-operated e-cigarette devices use heat to create vapor from liquid solutions made with nicotine, flavors and other chemicals. Goniewicz and his team examined chemicals in vapors generated from e-cigarettes with variable voltage that allow users to increase vapor production and nicotine delivery.

Though vapors from e-cigarettes operated at lower voltage generated trace amount of such toxic chemicals as formaldehyde, a known carcinogen; acetaldehyde, considered a possible carcinogen to humans; and two chemicals known to irritate nasal, lung and/or mucous tissues, acrolein and acetone.

When the voltage was increased, the levels of toxicants also significantly increased.

“These results suggest that some types of electronic cigarettes might expose their users to the same or even higher levels of carcinogenic formaldehyde than tobacco smoke,” Goniewicz said. “Users of high-voltage e-cigarettes need to be warned about this increased risk of harmful effects.”

Andrew Hyland is chairman of the department of health behavior at Roswell Park’s Division of Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences and serves as a senior editor for the journal Tobacco Control.

“This speaks to the fact that right now there’s no regulatory oversight of any of the manufacturing, the distribution or the marketing,” he said.

The publication of the study comes just days after a New York State Senate Standing Committee on Health held hearings in Albany about whether to both regulate liquid nitocine and include e-cigarettes in its existing Clean Indoor Air Act.

The state hearings followed last month’s long-awaited decision by the Food & Drug Administration to begin studying new products that meet the legal definition of a tobacco product, including e-cigarettes. Currently, the FDA only regulates e-cigarettes marketed for therapeutic purposes, as well as cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco.

Hyland leads the hospital’s secondhand smoke research program. He said the concern about e-cigarettes focuses on several areas, including marketing that appears to be directed at kids, concerns about former users coming into the marketplace as well as concern about smokers of traditional cigarettes who become dual users to be able to use them in public places where smoking isn’t permitted, such as the workplace, restaurants and other sites.

“There’s reason to be hopeful in many ways this is a tool to get people off conventional cigarettes, and that is the primary No. 1 public health problem. But that’s a big unknown,” Hyland said. “Some are using e-cigarettes as a reason not to quit cigarette smoking, as a crutch.”

The biggest concern about e-cigarettes, he said, is there are just too many unknowns.

A number of studies have already been completed that help expand that body of knowledge, including a study published in February that e-cigarette use — also known as vaping — also exposes non-users to nicotine in the same way as second-hand smoke, though at lower levels.

“Our view is that public policy should be grounded on well-conducted science as opposed to hearsay,” Hyland said.

Additional research on the voltage issue is expected: Goniewicz recommends research to examine other product characteristics that may impact toxicity, such as the types of heating elements, flavorings, additives and product storage conditions.